“I couldn’t be happier; this is such a wonderful gift. I am so grateful,” says foreign language department chair Mary Brown. Brown is heading to India.

Out of 23 applicants, Brown was selected to receive the 21st Mary Johnson Travelship Award. This award gives one teacher every year the opportunity of international travel for a few weeks over the summer.

Despite her long career as a Spanish teacher and an Hispanophile, Brown chose to travel to India. As part of the Indian student exchange in 2007, Brown hosted an Indian chaperone, Geeta Maten, with whom she fostered a strong friendship. Brown became fascinated with Indian culture, and she was amazed at how it “opened a whole new world” for her.

Brown and her husband will be traveling to various locations in southern India for just over two weeks, along a route similar to the one English teacher David Rockermann’s India exchange groups took. Rockermann will help her plan the trip. Brown will be visiting Geeta’s house, as well as her school, Palikoodam, and the city of Kerala.

Mr. Rockermann said, “I think it’s a fantastic opportunity. She is going to meet Ms. Roy [the principal of Palikoodam] and visit the school. It is a great opportunity for another teacher to go to Palikoodam.”

When asked how she felt at winning this honor, Brown said she was “shocked” as well as “lucky” and “happy.”

Mary Johnson, a 1981 graduate of Wayland High School after whom the award is named, died in the terrorist bombing of Pam Am Flight 103. Following her graduation from Brown University, she was flying to Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988 when the the plane crashed. In her memory, her family elected to donate Mary’s life insurance money towards funding travel for one teacher per year. The award goes to a teacher who “loves children, respects them, and helps them grow beyond themselves,” according to the travelship publication.

Brown wants to extend great thanks to the Johnson family. “It was the will of God, sent to me as a gift.”

Source:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/archive/x1848776078
/Mary-L-Johnson-Travelship-Award-winner-revealed